Steve Leary (Tragedies and Triumphs)
Stephen "Steve" Colm Leary (born 2 February 1957) is an American aeronautical engineer and pilot, known as the uncle of former Pink Ranger Kimberly Hart. Biography Steve was born and raised in Albany, New York, the eldest son in a close-knit upper-middle class Irish Catholic family. A precocious and active "wonder boy," he was a top-student, a natural athlete and a fierce protector of his six younger siblings. Though now and then he would coop himself up to build model trains and airplanes, he loved outdoor sports, winter or summer: he was a hunter, an archer and a leader in his scout troop. It was this particular hobby that, at age fourteen, led to a nasty spill and a horrible gash in his left ankle and lower leg in the Catskill mountains. He was airlifted to a hospital by helicopter and for a few hours the doctor worried to his parents that amputation might prove necessary. Steve overheard the doctor (though he wasn't meant to) and became highly distressed; a priest (it was a Catholic hospital) giving last rights in the next room could hear the distress and, when he had finished with his dying penitent, came in to bless Steve and pray with him. Steve ended up making a full recovery. : "That was the moment I found myself, and not just because of my career. Mine was always a very Catholic education: I went to Mass almost every morning before school; our mother made it a point to drop us off in time. But I'd never prayed much on my own before all that happened, but I sure have since. I realized then that I could never talk to God quite enough before I left the Earth, after all. You know... it's interesting, because also, I'd always a very sporty kid; I'd never let my legs go to waste. But after that incident I started going barefoot whenever I could. I was so happy to have both my feet still intact I just had to take ever-fuller advantage, even through something as simple as feeling the tickle of the grass." As a get-well present and to help him feel more alive, Steve's paternal grandparents offered him a skydiving session, much to the consernation of his mother, who did not approve and who worried sick until her son touched the ground with a parachute over his head. At that moment, Steve realized he loved flying even more than romping in the woods and hunting and began to beg his parents to help him get flying lessons. He remained obstinate for over a year until his mother gave in. Ultimately, however, Steve chose not to become a professional pilot but to attend Embry-Riddle University in Daytona Beach and become an aeronautical engineer. In his senior year there, in 1979, he met Corinne Boutin, a sophomore student of English Literature at the University of North Florida. They immediately clicked and when he graduated and received a job offer in Angel Grove, California, she decided to follow him and transfer to Angel Grove University. Her parents did not approve of the decision, so Steve asked her to marry him. The Boutins eventually gave in as they got to know Steve and the rest of the Learys, and they were married in her home town of Biddeford, Maine in the summer of 1980. Steve and Corinne have four children: Kelly (b. 1982), Kieran (b. 1984), Patrick (b. 1990) and Carla (b. 1993). Steve became close to his brother-in-law, Terrence Hart, the husband of his wife's sister Kristen. They often went to the archery range or on hunting trips together, though their friendship disappeared after Terrence's divorce from Kristen. Steve and Corinne, however, remained close with Kristen and her children, Kimberly and David. In late 1993, Steve nearly lost his life flying his four-seater plane when Baboo and Squatt poisoned his soda, causing him to pass out mid-flight with Kimberly, Bulk and Skull on board, intending for Kimberly to crash. Kimberly however was already a reactive pilot in her own right thanks to her experience with the Pterodactyl Dinozord, and Alpha-5 was able to brief her on the craft characteristics so she could land the plane, saving everyone's lives. Category:Allies